About the early developments of the Zhonghua plastic cars.

These are the first two prototypes of the later Zhonghua plastic cars. The six young people on the roof prove the strength of the car.

During the early rise of the Chinese automobile industry, there were several attempts of the authorities  to organize and orden the growing industry. In the 1980s the automotive authorities had divided the auto activities in the country in a limited number of districts. Jingjinji was one of them, which is short for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
The Jingjinji corporation gave Tang Jingsheng the possibility to design a car with a composite body, the two-door four-seat pickup BS111 in 1985.

He  made two versions: the rear-wheel driven BS111 and the front-wheel driven BS111B. Payload was 300kg. In 1986 the cars were licensed by the State Council Science and Technology Leading Group.

Tang searched for and found a production area, with help of the Shenzhen  Municipal People’s Government in Guangdong Province. Shenzhen loaned him 25 million yuan. He founded the Shenzhen China Automotive Industry Company. The factory, in fact a workshop on the ground flour, and the offices above, was located in an apartment building.

The address was: 611 Dong Bakualing, Shangbu Shenzhen.

Trail production started in March 1986 with a production version of the prototype Jingjinji BS111.

The cars were made at the base of a tubular chassis with a composite plastic body.

For export, the car was named ‘Plasticar’.  There was some export to South Asia. In China, the name was “Zhonghua” (China). There was no relation with the Brilliance (Zhonghua) from Jinbei, Shenyang.

“This is the vehicle for China. It is perfect for the country’s terrain and traffic conditions” told Tang Jinsheng in 1986 a journalist of the South China Morning Post.

In the factory brochure the cars are named BS-111 (rear wheel drive) and BS-111F (front wheel drive). This was changed by hand by factory people into BS-111B (rear) and BS-111A (front).

Technical details: payload 600kg, five-seats, weight 580kg, LxWxH 4100mm x 1550mm x 1495mm, wheelbase 2640mm. Rear wheel drive: turning cycle 4.6m, speed 90km/h, consumption 5.4L/100km. Front wheel drive: turning cycle 4.4m, speed 145km/h, consumption 4.5L/100km.

The bargain price of the BS111 would be 5000 yuan.

In the same newspaper interview chief engineer Li Jingwen dismissed fears about safety of the car, when hitting a steel car: “We’ve tested it in a head collision at 50km/h. The Plasticar was unscratched while the steel car’s bumper was damaged“.

Probably during the same period Zhonghua developed a straight copy of the Daihatsu Charade (2nd generation).
Unlike the BS111 pickup, I suppose that this hatchback was based on a real  Charade platform and not on a tube chassis.

A very interesting movie we suggest you, is “Take risks” (Mao mao fengxian), in fact a docu-drama, this film covers the start of Zhonghua in Shenzhen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxy1o_W209g.

German press showed a four door pickup in Autumn 1986, based on the Charade.

There was even a long wheelbase version of the four-door pickup (note the space between the rear door and the rear wheel).

In one of the streets near the factory, I met in 1988 a sedan. Zhonghua’s in traffic were rare.

The proces to make the plastic body by hand gave the possibility to easily produce different versions: hatchback, sedan, two-door pickup, four-door pickup, normal and extra long wheelbase.

Engines came initially from Daihatsu, a 993cc three-cylinder, together with the doors, bonnet and trunk. Also a local engine, made by Dong’an, was used, a four-cylinder 797cc which was a copy of the engine of the Suzuki Alto.

Zhonghua sedan with young Li Shufu (CEO Geely) at the steering wheel: his first car!

In 1988 Zhonghua introduced a new model, based on the Daihatsu Charade 3rd generation. There were a sedan and a four-door crew cab pickup.

Details of the BS111V sedan : LxWxH 4610mm x 1640mm x 1460mm, 5 seats, gvw 600kg, max. speed 145km/h, fuel consumption 4.5L/100km.

Production figures are rare, as the cars were not included in regular statistics. Some sources say that overall about 4000 were made in the period 1986-1989. Another source tells us: 1986 500 made; 1987 no figures; 1988: 1000 and 1989: 600.

And then, it ended. Well there were plans, like making a sports car for an American company named Firstward Ltd. But only a very small model was made.

Or making a bigger pickup.

The reason why it ended? There were several:

1. Each car was hand-made. In fact, Zhonghua was not a factory, it was a large workshop. Though there were plans for mass production (100.000 cars in 1996…), the production process did not allow this.
2. To buy the parts which were made by Daihatsu in Japan, Zhonghua needed foreign valuta. That was difficult to obtain, even the big joint-ventures had problems with this.
3. Zhonghua never managed to get a license to sell the cars all over China. They only had the possibility to sell them in Shenzhen Municipality and probably some neighboring cities. The reason was that Zhonghua didn’t fit in the central government’s plans of the development of the automotive industry of China. And that there were strong feelings within the central safety authorities that the cars were unsafe.
4. Always there was a lack of money. Finding investors (State, province, city) was very difficult.
5. Tang Jinsheng got an invitation to the USA by General Motors, they were interested in the process of making composite plastic bodies. He left to the US, went to the University of San Francisco to continue to study and only came back in 1992. But then Zhonghua in Shenzhen was long gone..
6. Tang restarted Zhonghua, with help of the then vice-premier Zhu Rongji, in 1995 in Beijing.

More to read in  an earlier article (2012) written by Tycho:
https://carnewschina.com/2012/02/09/history-the-zhonghua-plastic-cars-from-china/.

Together with Eugenie Verhaar I published in the late 1980s a magazine named “China On Wheels”. Eugenie visited Zhonghua in 1987, and I in 1988. This article (and these photos!) are also based on the info we both gathered.

Any car left? Not as far as I know.